NO LOVE LOST: Yusuf Pathan avoids a nasty one from his sibling Irfan. — Photo: V.V. Krishnan.

MOHALI: India Seniors, riding on a brilliant innings by Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan, won the Kingfisher Challenger Series by three wickets but Piyush Chawla lived a hundred dreams when he foxed the crafty Sachin Tendulkar and earned his admiration on a floodlit night at the PCA Stadium here.

The Seniors won in a convincing fashion but the moment to cherish was the young leg-spinner's brilliant piece of work with the ball.

Two failures in the tournament hardly gave Tendulkar the time to test his `tennis elbow' at the crease and it was no different on Thursday when he appeared more determined, and in a better touch too.

Four boundaries adorned Tendulkar's innings when he made a fatal error against the young Chawla The maestro shaped for a cut but misread the turn as the googly that curled into him and hit the leg-stump.

Leaving a mark

The Seniors lost Yuvraj Singh cheaply too but man-of-the-match Sivaramakrishnan (87 off 107 balls with 15 fours) left a mark on the match with a stirring effort that should help him push his case in the next league. The Tamil Nadu left-hander came up with an innings that shut India `B' out of the reckoning. Some tips from Tendulkar helped him focus on his job and Sivaramakrishnan capitalised.

Tendulkar's dismissal may have raised early hopes for India `B' but the tall Sivaramakrishnan read the situation well and stuck to his aggressive game to unsettle the attack. He used his reach to play the drive with lot of conviction and countered Chawla with confidence. The quality knock from Sivaramakrishnan apart, Chawla made a huge impression with his bowling skills. The second half of the contest belonged to these two youngsters with Sivaramakrishnan standing out with his scintillating batting and Chawla emerging a spinner to look out for in the future.

Earlier, India `B' ran out of steam after being asked to bat. The five-wicket strike by left-arm spinner Murali Kartik was the highlight of the afternoon after left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan had made three dents in the India `B' innings.

Cheap dismissal

The cheap dismissal of Robin Uthappa had a negative impact on the India `B' side and the innings never recovered from his tame departure.

The innings was in its 13th over when Sachin Tendulkar was forced to take over captaincy when Mohammad Kaif left the field due to a thigh injury.

India Seniors was aided by a streak of poor shot selection by the India `B' top order.

S. Sriram was guilty of playing a flashy on the up drive and Dinesh Mongia hardly helped his case by miscuing an innocuous ball to backward point.

Yusuf Pathan failed to read the `doosra' from Harbhajan. All this while Shikhar Dhawan hung on in the middle.

The Delhi lad did play a few rousing strokes but played a poor shot to become Zaheer's third victim. The India `B' innings had lost direction and much was now expected from the young talent that revolved around the diminutive Parthiv Patel, who was the only one to make a decent contribution.

The scores:

India `A': R. Uthappa c Kaif b Zaheer 9, S. Dhawan c Dhoni b Zaheer 26, S. Sriram c Venugopal b Zaheer 8, D. Mongia c Yadav b Harbhajan 7, Y. Pathan c Tendulkar b Harbhajan 20, P. Patel lbw b Kartik 39, R. Shukla (not out) 26, Sunny b Kartik 5, P. Chawla st Dhoni b Kartik 5, A. Bhandari st Dhoni b Kartik 4, S. Sreesanth st Dhoni b Kartik 5; Extras (lb-4, nb-3, w-16): 23, Total (in 42.5 overs): 177.

Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-29, 3-43, 4-70, 5-91, 6-141, 7-150, 8-157, 9-164.

India Seniors bowling: Zaheer 8-1-42-3, I. Pathan 9-0-37-0, Harbhajan 8-2-24-2, J.P. Yadav 6-0-28-0, Kartik 9.5-0-29-5, Y. Venugopal Rao 1-0-5-0, V. Sivaramakrishnan 1-0-8-0.

India Seniors: V. Sivaramakrishnan b Sreesanth 87, S. Tendulkar b Chawla 22, Yuvraj c Shukla b Chawla 5, Y. Venugopala Rao c Patel b Sreesanth 18, M.S. Dhoni st Patel b Chawla 6, J.P. Yadav c Uthappa b Mongia 10, I. Pathan (not out) 11, S. Parab b Sreesanth 4, M. Kartik (not out) 4, Extras (lb-6, nb-3, w-5): 14, Total (for seven wkts. in 39 overs): 181.

Fall of wickets: 1-46, 2-2-67, 3-113, 4-122, 5-143, 6-173, 7-177.

India `B' bowling: Bhandari 3-0-17-0, S. Sreesanth 9-2-32-3, Chawla 10-1-49-3, Y. Pathan 10-0-44-0, Mongia 7-1-33-1.

Yesterday's scores:

India `A' — 260 for eight.

India `B': R. Uthappa c Jadhav b V.R.V. Singh 116, S. Dhawan (run out) 40, S. Sriram (not out) 45, D. Mongia lbw b Nadeem 44, Parthiv Patel (not out) 4. Extras (lb-1, nb-5, w-9): 15. Total (for three wkts. in 38.5 overs): 264.

Fall of wickets: 1-148, 2-235, 3-254.

India `A' bowling: V.R.V. Singh 10-1-51-1, R.P. Singh 7.5-0-67-0, Balaji 9-1-48-0, Nadeem 9-0-58-1, Raina 2-0-29-0, Tiwari 1-0-10-1.

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